This is what often happens when organisations respond to a problem by adding control instead of removing the cause:
“There are too many mistakes being made. The first reaction is that the manager needs to give approval before the work can be signed off.
A couple of months later, everything is still taking too long, so we need to create a fast-track procedure. On that fast-track procedure, some exceptions will pop up, so we need to have very clear criteria for when you are allowed to use the fast track.
To do so, we’re going to create a new form. As a next step, someone needs to check if that form is actually being filled in the right way.”
You can imagine what this does to an organization. Organizations can be complex, especially growing ones. But we should be careful not to add even more complexity ourselves.
What do you do if things aren’t working well, or if you’re starting to notice that you need more rules, procedures, or steps?
Don’t respond to a problem by immediately adding more control, but first you need to understand what is causing it.
Go back to the core. Using the example above, ask yourself why the team was making mistakes in the first place. What caused them?
Start from there.
If you still end up with a bunch of new procedures, think backwards: what could happen if a procedure doesn’t work? This gives you a glimpse of the extra procedures that could be added in the future if you implement it today.
You’ll likely end up with less unnecessary complexity